Universal Hopes 'Dracula' Can Suck Again

The studio has decided that it's just been too darned long since viewers got to see an origin story for the world's most famous vampire. Thus, writers Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless have been recruited to pen a project tentatively (but hopefully not permanently) titled "Dracula Year Zero."

The film will -- as suggested above -- be an origin story for the bloodsucker, dealing with the true-ish story of Prince Vlad the Impaler. Both industry trade papers were given a release that describes the project as depicting Dracula as "a flawed hero in a tragic love story set in the dark age of magic and war."

"Dracula Year Zero" -- which makes it sound like a sequel to FOX's short-lived drama "Ryan Caulfield: Year One" -- will be produced for Universal through Michael DeLuca's DeLuca Productions.

Universal, of course, was the home to Tod Browning's seminal 1931 "Dracula," which was based on Bram Stoker's seminal 1897 novel of the same title. A non-scientific "character" search on the Internet Movie Database turns up several hundred films in which Dracula has popped up as a character.